Advanced Oxidation Technologies for Treatment of Water Contaminants

Hadas Mamane, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

One of the major challenges faced by the world today is the availability of safe drinking water. It is therefore essential to acquire the knowledge necessary to meet currently unsolved and emerging water problems. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are processes where pollutants are chemically oxidized by free hydroxyl radicals. The hydroxyl radicals can be generated, for example, by the combined application of ozone/hydrogen peroxide (O₃/H₂O₂), ultraviolet radiation/ozone (UV/O₃, UV/titanium dioxide (UV/TiO₂) or UV/H₂O₂. Pharmaceutical residues are of particular interest among micro-contaminants given their widespread use and presence in different water sources. In addition, pathogenic microorganisms commonly occur in surface and groundwater sources contaminated with wastewater. Various AOP processes and applications for treatment of various water types including drinking water and non-domestic and domestic wastewater will be presented as: (a) oxidation of hospital and industrial waste water via biological treatment, such as membrane bioreactors (MBR) coupled with ozonation, (b) solar driven photocatalytic activity of catalytic nanostructured membranes for treatment of chemical and microbial contaminants, (c) hybrid AOP–soil aquifer treatment (SAT) technology for micropollutant removal and enhanced biodegradation by ozonation of domestic secondary effluent followed by SAT and (d) biofouling (deposition of microorganisms on surfaces) control in drinking water systems by AOP pretreatment.